Philippina Roth

Philippina Roth (born March 24, 1898 in Saarbrücken , † July 18, 1961 in Neuruppin , born Philippina Day ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

After primary school, Philippina Roth worked in various households and as a factory worker. In 1924 she married the miner Peter Roth , who joined the KPD and the Red Aid in 1930 . The marriage resulted in two sons. Philippina Roth was also involved in the KPD. In the referendum battle for the Saar area , they tried to maintain the status quo, i. H. to prevent unification with the German Reich. The couple stayed in Saarland, but Peter Roth was arrested in September 1936. Although nothing could be proven, he was taken into protective custody and imprisoned in the Lichtenburg concentration camp.

In January 1938, both he and his wife were tried. 24 defendants were tried before the Hamm Higher Regional Court . The allegation was the illegal continuation of the KPD and thus high treason . Peter Roth received nine years because the judges saw him as a leader. He died in a concentration camp in 1944 . Philippina Roth was also convicted. The court found her guilty of formally being the political leader of the Red Aid, but in truth her husband had run the business. As an “incorrigible communist” she was nevertheless given eight and a half years in prison, most of which she spent in the Ravensbrück concentration camp . There she was liberated by the Allies after the end of the war .

She couldn't cope with the shock of losing both sons and her husband during the war. She was considered " mentally deranged " and spent the rest of her life in a sanatorium in Neuruppin, where she died on July 18, 1961.

literature

• Luitwien Bies: Philippina Roth . In: Luitwin Bies / Horst Bernard (ed.): Saarland women against the Nazis. Persecuted - Evicted - Expropriated . Blattlaus-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2004, ISBN 3-930771-31-4 , p. 103-106 .